white Buddha

This white marble Buddha is between 100 and 250 years old, and has been identified as a Mandalay (Burmese) work. The inscription on the base is addressed to the donor of the statue, reading 'May she [the donor] prosper and may her family prosper'.

This is one of two Buddhas in the house. The other, from the Khmer temple of Phra Prang Sam Yod, in Lopburi (Thailand), sits on three octagonal wooden columns at the other end of the room and dates from the 13th or 14th century. Jim Ede had a lifelong interest in religions and the spiritual, and Buddhism was certainly among these. The fact that he was able to walk away from Kettle's Yard in 1973, leaving a collection and way of life built up over half a century in the care of others, owes something to Oriental philosophy: at its roots is the Buddhist notion that an individual prepares for death by giving away worldly possessions to others.

The statue has also an important function in the overall visual construction of the downstairs extension. Its positioning amongst the crockery comes as a surprise initially. However, its shape establishes an interesting dialogue with that of the brown Staite Murray pot on top of the cupboard, and the more light-hearted Gaudier-Brzeska clay 'Head of an Idiot', placed a few shelves below to the left.

material - carved marble
location - extension below slate, corner cupboard